Some time back, I talked about barns and why they were painted red. One thing that often\/usually existed on older barns was a weathervane. At one time, these things were considered essential for farmers to have\u2026 today they\u2019re more decorative, but they do still perform the same function and sometimes I think they are about as accurate as weather satellites when it comes to predicting the weather.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So you guessed it \u2014 today\u2019s topic is weathervanes. The components of a weathervane are the vane, the mast, and the directionals, which display the four points of the compass \u2014 North, South, East and West. The vane usually resembles an arrow shape, often with some decorative figure on top. The vane rotates freely and points in the direction the wind is coming from. The directionals remain stationary. So if the arrow is pointing north, that means the are coming from the north indicating a \u201cnorth wind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally, people tied strings or cloth to the tops of buildings so that they could see which way the wind was blowing. Later, banners became a popular ornament and that\u2019s where we get the \u201cvane\u201d in weathervane \u2014 it\u2019s an Old English word that meant \u201cbanner\u201d or \u201cflag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Probably the first real weathervane (not simply a piece of cloth) was on top of the Tower of the Winds, a First Century B.C. octagonal tower in Athens, Greece. The tower was topped by a bronze wind vane in the shape of Triton, the sea god. The vane was designed so that Triton, who was holding a rod in his hand, would turn so that the rod pointed in the direction of the blowing wind. Obviously weathervanes work best when they\u2019re placed on top of the tallest structure available because there\u2019s less obstacles to obstruct the wind. Before long, weathervanes like the one on top of the Tower of the Winds spread throughout Europe, often on top of towers and church steeples. Usually those on churches were adorned with a cross or an image of a patron saint\u2026. but they all served the same purpose \u2014 to turn and point in the direction of the wind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems that he most popular weathervane \u201ctopper\u201d now is the rooster. Since church steeples were often the highest structure around they were popular spots for weathervanes. The rooster is an important symbol in Christian churches \u2014 primarily because of the story of St. Peter after the Last Supper. The Bible writings tell us that Peter would deny Jesus three times \u201cbefore the rooster crowed.\u201d The rooster became known to many Christians as the symbol of St. Peter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 9th century, Pope Nicholas decreed that all churches must display the rooster on their steeples or domes as a symbol of Peter\u2019s betrayal of Jesus. In accordance with the decree, churches started using weathervanes with the rooster. We have a rooster at our church \u2014 not on a weathervane, but on a pole. As centuries passed, the rule about placing roosters atop churches went by the wayside \u2014 but roosters stayed on weathervanes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So today, you mostly see weathervanes on Barns \u2014 usually one of the taller structures on a farm, and many of them are adorned with a rooster. I\u2019m not sure why roosters are that popular for weathervanes on farms, but a rooster is a farm animal and the shape of a rooster (especially their tail) makes it the perfect shape to catch the wind. If you wanted to get dramatic about it, you could say that the rooster is the first to see the rising sun and announce the day \u2014 it represents the victory of light over darkness while warding off evil\u2026.
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Some time back, I talked about barns and why they were painted red. One thing that often\/usually existed on older barns was a weathervane. At one time, these things were considered essential for farmers to have\u2026 today they\u2019re more decorative, … Continue reading